33 Apocalypse Ave (and eventually to Limbo City), Friday Afternoon

[spin_kick_snap]

Last week, Kathy had been an utter lump, eating ice cream and playing sad music and watching a lot of TV while she got used to life without the guys. This week wasn't actually much easier, but Kathy's tolerance for her own moping had run out and left her needing to do something that wasn't just dwell.

Fortunately, it wasn't like she was lacking in options. With the guys gone and Raven spending most of her time out in the woods, the house was just too big and full of memories. So she was moving back to the apartment above Luke's - along with Raven, at least nominally - and this week she'd really gotten her ass in gear when it came to packing. Most of the upstairs was packed, even if those boxes were still mostly stacked downstairs, and now she was just cleaning out their old rooms of the detritus the always seemed to accumulate under furniture and in corners.

Like this old credit card bill of Dante's from...April of 2017. Kathy snorted and rolled her eyes, preparing to toss it into the bin that was half-full of junk when she noticed that one of the items on there was in Hangul. Wait. Had Dante been learning stuff in Korean?

Wait. 김치 크림 파이. Was that a-- Kathy grabbed her phone and did a quick search and yep. It was pretty much exactly the kind of website she'd been expecting with a name like that. Definitely didn't have to do with desserts, that was for damn sure.

"Oh." She wasn't entirely sure what to make of it, especially since that was back when everything had still been really...rough...between them. They'd been friends, in a tentative kind of manner, but no more. So then why...?

"Hi, Portalocity? I've got a portal scheduled to Limbo City for later on this evening, but I was wondering, could I bump it up to earlier than that? Something this afternoon would be good, yeah."

[Open for calls, texts, and visitors before she goes, and LC folks afterwards!]

Comments

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka nodded, filing that away.

She'd ask Ringo about it. Maybe they could get Kathy a fridge for her birthday. It wasn't a very exciting present, in Alluka's opinion, but it sounded like it mattered. A lot. And that was more important.

And then they could save the exciting presents for Christmas!

"And the jar doesn't smell up the fridge?" she asked. "How many tarts do you want, Kathy?"

[spin_kick_snap]

They happened around the same time, so they'd be able to do both at once!

...Though Kathy would probably break down crying at a kimchi fridge and forget to open up everything else.

"The jar is airtight," Kathy explained, holding up three fingers. "So long as I close it tightly and only open it outside the fridge, it's fine. And, let me tell you, having Dante around means never having to worry if your jars lids are too loose. Usually it means just the opposite."

Her smile faded a little as she realized that having too-tight lids wasn't really a problem she was going to have to worry about.

Oh.

[that_oldsaying]

All the more reason to do both separately!

"Dante will miss you even more though," Alluka declared, setting two tarts on Kathy's plate for her since one was never enough. "Because you're way more helpful than he is. So that means he'll have to come visit you lots and lots."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'll have to point that out to him later on," Kathy said. "I'm the cute and helpful one. But yeah. I hope he and Anders do visit a lot."

She would do her part and visit Limbo City sometimes, but she'd be far happier if she didn't have to go often.

[that_oldsaying]

"Dante said he'd help me learn to fight," Alluka offered, smiling at Kathy. "So, so he'll have to come here. And of course if he's here, he'll visit you! You're way more important to him than my lessons."

At least, Alluka really hoped so.

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'd like to think so," Kathy said, amused. "Though I do know that he's gonna take your lessons seriously. He wants you to stay safe." She bit into one of her jam tarts and mmmm'd at how good it was. "Can I come watch?"

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka added a third jam tart to her own plate and nodded.

"I don't mind," she said, shrugging a little. "If it would make you feel better, I don't mind at all."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I just wanna watch," Kathy said. "Not even to feel better? But just to watch you learn."

[that_oldsaying]

"Then that's even better," she said happily. "I'll work as hard as I can to learn well."

Alluka considered that.

"Though you don't want to come to my other lessons yet," she decided, though she was still grinning. "At least, you shouldn't. They're kind of terrible."

[spin_kick_snap]

"What other lessons are you learning?" Kathy asked. "And you also have to tell me about that other thing you experienced out there!"

[that_oldsaying]

"Papa Jono has started teaching me how to play the violin," Alluka announced, then giggled. "You really don't want to hear it yet, Kathy."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Ooooh," Kathy winced. "I've heard that's a little bit, uhh, hard to listen to when you're just started out."

[that_oldsaying]

She giggled.

"It's awful," she said, delighted. "But my violin is really pretty!"

Alluka fished her phone out of one of her skirt pockets and, after a moment, offered it to Kathy.

"See?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Ooh, that's lovely!" Kathy cooed, looking at Alluka's phone. "What made you decide to learn the violin?"

[that_oldsaying]

"Um, um, well..."

Alluka hesitated for a moment, trying to put it into words.

"I wanted something that Papa Jono and I could do together," she explained, "and I didn't want to learn guitar. And while I could've asked Papa Jono to teach me how to fight, he... he had a bad summer for reasons I don't know. So I wanted something that would make him happy, without making him unhappy at the same time? And I like the violin. It's pretty, when other people play it."

She'd get there!

[spin_kick_snap]

"That makes sense," Kathy said, nodding. "That's one of the reasons I did learn guitar. It's sweet that you found something else to learn together." She took another bite of the tart.

"And you'll get there."